The Giants played a good fore-checking game, but it was the Hurricane squad who made it so easy to do. The Canes D would lay the body and then skate away leaving Giants players with the puck to do with it what they will. The Giants had easy lanes to the net and the Hurricanes were very slow getting to loose pucks. All that said; I did like the Giants game. After a poorly played, badly executed and sloppy game versus the Tigers the Giants showed poise and dimension. They kept the pressure up and were not guilty of sitting back and trying to protect their lead. The Gs averaged one goal for every four shots. They ventilated both Lethbridge netminders who were abandoned by their team, but guilty of a few poor rebounds and misplays themselves. The offense was spread throughout the line-up. Hay rolled four lines and sent out bit part players on the PP once the result was not really in question. The G-Men stopped celebrating goals after 5 or 6.
Tyler Morrison opened the scoring on the PP. Joel Hamilton and Dominik Volek with the helpers. Travis McEvoy gutted out a goal on the doorstep, with Mason Geertsen and Luca Leone getting the assists. Dalton Sward scored his first of two on the night, shorthanded early in the second. A turnover created a 3 on1 scoring chance. Cain Franson went in all alone, deking to the backhand and getting stopped trying to go five-hole, but Sward swooped in and potted the rebound. Dalton Thrower got the other assist. Leone scored one of his own off of Carter Popoff. That was it for Canes’ netminder Hogue to be replaced by Schamerhorn. Thomas Foster solved Schamerhorn about 5 minutes later potting a rebound off of a Joel Hamilton rush. Tim Traber garnered the other assist.
The Giants continued to roll in the third. Sward scored on the PP 2:30 into the final frame, with Ty Ronning and Brett Kulak getting the other points. Jackson Houck gutted out a goal 35 seconds later with the helpers going to Popoff and Volek. Ronning found twine off of Geertsen and Kulak with the man advantage and then Arvin Atwal scored a skilled goal slipping it behind the goaltender on another PP, finishing off a rush which began in his own zone. Franson and Payton Lee got points on the play. Jackson Houck pushed the score to double digits diving at a loose puck and chipping it up and over Schamerhorn. It was yet another PP marker and assisted by Geertsen and Popoff.
Fight Night: Arvin Atwal v Steven Alldridge – Atwal pretty much had the upper hand in for this whole tilt. Dmitry Osipov v Brady Ramsay – Canes captain Ramsay got tired of it all with time winding down and challenged Osipov. The young Russian got in some solid early shots. Ramsay retaliated with a flurry of punches, but Osipov maintained his ground and gave some back before Ramsay almost punched the linesman swinging at Osipov
Zebra Cage: Jason Nissen and Pat Smith – early on I felt that the refs were missing a bunch, but as the game went on the calls were consistent for the game on the whole. With a possible exception of a high-stick raking it’s way up a Giants player’s face and over his helmet, which was a good battle in the corner, but has been called high-sticking all season and for several years. In old school hockey not a penalty, in our current day and hand-wringing age most definitely should be called.
The Giants out shot the Canes 40-18. They went a crazy 5 for 5 on the PP. Lethbridge went 0 for 2 coughing up a SH’d marker. It was an easy game, but the Giants didn’t play an easy game. They worked along the boards and although they were given open paths to the net they continued to press in the attacking zone. After some tough losses I fear the Hurricanes took the brunt of some recent practice and building frustration. The scoring was spread throughout the line-up. I don’t recall the Giants actively celebrating a goal in the 3rd period instead adopting a business-like demeanour skating to the bench. The Hurricanes took lazy penalties as they chased a lot and they paid for it. When half of your goals come on the PP and you score on every chance then the competition is not there. The Canes were coming off of a 7-2 drubbing by the struggling Blazers the night before so you know they are sitting at the bottom of the Dub for good reason.
The Canes iced a young line-up. They have 8 or 9, 17 yr old players on their roster. 17 yr old - Jonny Hogue is still looking for his first WHL win and has now taken 6 regulation losses, but he was not getting any help clearing pucks from in front of his net and was often left high and dry. The Lethbridge players seemed disinterested in protecting the front of their net, were soft on the puck and not very quick on the back-check. There are a couple of very frustrated players on that team as they did have some guys working hard (Their captain Brady Ramsay comes to mind), but too many sloppy mistakes and poor effort when pressure was brought to bear.
I’d love to talk about the Giants players who looked really good out there, the guys who are often bit players stepping up and I suppose I should, but really it was about the other guys not ready to play (looking suspiciously like the Giants in the their first ten games this season) leaving wide gaps and not having any sort of puck support or organization, which was the story of the game. The Giants were bad last year and struggled mightily, but they did not get blown out regularly. The Hurricanes were just not up to the task of competing throughout the line-up and that for me is a coaching issue, not a youth issue. This is a broken team. When your two top players are –35 and –41 there are major issues. It’s one thing losing games, it’s a whole other thing losing like they did last night.
A nod to some players who normally don’t get a big amount of ice time stepping it up. Leone a recent scratch had a nice two point night and was gifted the second star by the broadcast crew. McEvoy and Trzonkowski had some good jump and were forcing the play, admittedly not that difficult on the night, and took the puck to the net. Ronning got the chance to play with Sward and Franson in the third and showed some chops. I also liked the depth of Atwal’s game. An assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat-trick, making some smart passes and decent breakouts.
The Giants played their 5th game in eight nights and tonight they take on the surging Victoria Royals in their 6th game in 9 nights. This game will be a challenge. The boys are going to have to bring the same work-ethic they had on Friday and turn up the intensity several notches. The Royals are getting excellent goaltending and their D are currently one of the best in the league. The Giants have been playing good and great teams tough (especially at home) and are capable of beating the best, but they are really going to need everyone on the same page and the willingness to battle through traffic and get any kind of goal. Greasy, ugly, pretty it doesn’t matter how it goes in it matters how it ends. The puck drops tonight at 7pm at the Rink on Renfrew.
Three Stars
1. Dalton Sward
2. Luca Leone
3. Payton Lee
Dondo’s Doghouse: is empty
Dondo’s Hardhat: once again goes to – Dalton Sward – a couple of goals, but mostly for his intense play at all ends of the ice and seeing his confidence going to the net to get to the rebounds. The team will need that tonight versus Victoria.
Giants 10 Hurricanes 0 - Jan 24th, 2014
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